Guide to the World of Hyatt (2018)
Hotel Strategies, Hotel Loyalty Program Reference Guide
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Quick Guide
- Hyatt points are worth about 1.7-1.8 cents each. There are many very nice Hyatt hotels, available for only 10-15,000 points. How Much are Hotel Points Worth?
- Like most other hotel programs, you can earn enough points for several free nights from the signup bonus on the Hyatt credit card. While it is issued by Chase, it is not subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, and you should be able to cancel and reapply for the signup bonus every two years.
- Each year you have the Hyatt credit card, you’ll get a certificate good for a free night at a Category 1-4 (out of 7) hotel. Unlike the certificate you get from the Marriott card, this is still good enough to get a nice primary-brand hotel in most cities, just not very expensive ones like New York.
- If you collect Ultimate Reward points, one of your best redemption options is to transfer them to Hyatt. The easiest way to earn points for Hyatt hotels is by earning Ultimate Reward points instead.
- Hyatt’s mid and high-level elite status, called Explorist and Globalist, have nice benefits, but they are hard to earn without real stays at Hyatt hotels.
- Cash and point awards provide more value than standard awards, at Category 2-6 hotels.
- Hyatt offers good value when using points to upgrade rooms booked with regular paid reservations.
- All members automatically get a free night certificate (cat 1-4), after you stay at 5 different Hyatt brands (over the course of your lifetime).
Hyatt Brands
Hyatt is a much smaller program that Marriott / Starwood, Hilton, and IHG; and primarily focuses on higher-end hotels. Hyatt Place is their main moderately priced hotel brand.
Free Night Certificates
Credit card anniversary certificates
Every year, on your cardholder anniversary date, you’ll receive a certificate good for a free night at a Category 1-4 hotel (out of 7). The card costs $75 a year, and the certificate should easily be worth more than that. The potential downside of the Hyatt certificate is that they have fewer than 1,000 hotels around the world, so you might have difficulty using it before it expires. Nevertheless, we recommend that most people hold onto the card to take advantage of the certificate each year. Hyatt Free Night Certificates.
Free night certificates for staying at several different brands
When you finish a stay at your 5th different Hyatt brand (since March 1st, 2017), you’ll automatically earn a certificate good for a free night at a Category 1-4 hotel. For example, if at some point you stay in a Hyatt, a Hyatt Regency, a Grand Hyatt, a Hyatt Place, and an Andaz, you’ll earn a free night.
There is no time limit for earning this award. If you stay in 2 brands in 2017, 2 additional brands in 2018, and yet another brand in 2019, you’ll qualify.
It is possible to earn an additional certificate when you stay in your 10th brand, but unless you are a fan of their all-inclusive resorts, you are unlikely to visit that many different brands with normal travel patterns.
Free night certificates for achieving elite status
You'll get your first certificate, good for category 1-4 hotels, when you hit 30 qualifying nights (or 50,000 base points), and another certificate, good for category 1-7 hotels, when hit 60 qualifying nights (or 100,000 base points).
Award Chart
- If there are “standard” rooms available, you can always book them with your points.
- Award rates for booking premium rooms are not usually a very good deal. A club room costs the equivalent of $72 EXTRA per night at a lowly Category 2 hotel, and $162 EXTRA per night at their most expensive hotels. A suite is even more expensive, but might sometimes be worth a splurge. They cost $144 extra in points for a Category 3 hotel, and up to $324 extra for a Category 7 hotel.
- Using points to upgrade paid stays provides great value. You can upgrade a paid reservation to a Regency / Grand Club room for only 3,000 points ($54) per night, and to a Suite at only 6,000 points ($108) per night. This is especially valuable at their more expensive hotels.
- One nice thing about Hyatt award nights is that they waive any resort fees, making award nights relatively more valuable at hotels that add expensive resort fees to the bill.
- Hyatt doesn’t have a 5th night free benefit.
| Category | Room | Club Room | Suite | Cash & Points (CPP) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5,000 | 7,000 | 8,000 | 2,500 + $50 | (2.00) |
| 2 | 8,000 | 12,000 | 13,000 | 4,000 + $55 | (1.38) |
| 3 | 12,000 | 17,000 | 20,000 | 6,000 + $75 | (1.25) |
| 4 | 15,000 | 21,000 | 24,000 | 7,500 + $100 | (1.33) |
| 5 | 20,000 | 27,000 | 32,000 | 10,000 + $125 | (1,25) |
| 6 | 25,000 | 33,000 | 40,000 | 12,500 + $150 | (1.20) |
| 7 | 30,000 | 39,000 | 48,000 | 15,000 + $300 | (2.00) |
Cash and Points Awards
- Cash and points reservations are not always available. But when they are, they are a better value than regular awards at Category 2-6 hotels. For Category 1 and 7 hotels, they are only a good option if you are short on points, as the cash rates are more expensive than the typical value of the points you’d save. But, they are still cheaper than buying the points outright.
- Cash and points rates can make the difference between a bad award reservation and a good reservation. For example, let’s say that there is a Category 5 hotel, that costs $300 per night. If you book a standard award for 20,000 points, you’re getting 1.5 cents per point, and we would generally recommend keeping your points for a future redemption. However, if you take advantage of the cash and points award, you are spending 10,000 points and saving $175 per night, giving you 1.75 cents in value for your points.
- You’ll see Cash & Points availability when you are looking at the award rates for an individual hotel. If you want to see all of the hotels that have a Cash & Points rate available at a particular destination, you can use a trick discovered by Will Run for Miles. If you enter 51440 in the “Corporate or Group Code” box, you’ll see the cash portion of the Cash & Points rate, instead of the actual rate, in the search results, and can easily identify the desired hotels.
Acquiring Points
Acquiring last minute points
If you see a great redemption deal on Hyatt hotels, there are several ways that you can acquire additional points. Get a Discounted Room Rate by Buying the Points for an Award Night.
| Purchasing points |
You can also purchase up to 55,000 points per year, in 1,000-point increments, for 2.4 cents per point, and receive another 55,000 points purchased by another member.Sometimes promotions are available, which allow you purchase points for less money per point and enable you to purchase more points per year. Acquiring More Hotel Points When They are On Sale. |
| Transferring between accounts |
You can transfer points between members at no charge, once every 30 days. |
| Transferring credit card points |
You can transfer Ultimate Reward points (1000:1000) to Hyatt. This is the only transfer between any type of credit card point, and any type of hotel point, that is often worthwhile. You can also transfer Diners Club points (1250:750) to Hyatt. |
Earning points from your stays
You can earn 5 points for every dollar spent at Hyatt. Discoverist, Explorist, and Globalist members earn bonuses of 10%, 20%, and 30%. You won’t earn points for stays booked through online travel agents. or other channels. You need to book directly with Hyatt.
You can earn airline miles instead of points. Unlike most other programs, you receive a fixed number of miles (usually 500) per stay. On a very inexpensive stay, this can be more valuable than earning Hyatt points. For example, if the cost for your stay was $75, you could get 500 airline miles, instead of 375 Hyatt points. But, usually you are better off earning Hyatt points.
You’ll earn an additional 3 points per dollar, if you use your Hyatt credit card. This is a better return than you’ll get from a general-purpose reward card, and all but the best cards that earn bonus rewards on travel spending. You are obviously better off using a Sapphire card to earn 3x Ultimate Reward points, which can be converted into 3 Hyatt points (as well as used in other ways). Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending.
Other ways to earn points
The best way to quickly earn a bunch of points is by signing up for the Hyatt credit card. The normal bonus on the Hyatt credit card is 40,000 points. Even though it is issued by Chase, the Hyatt card is not subject to the Chase 5/24 rule. You should be able to cancel and reapply for the business version every two years. Because the free night certificate is valuable, you are usually better off waiting to cancel until after your second anniversary, even though you’ll pay an extra year’s annual fee. Credit Cards 101.
Keeping your Points from Expiring
You can lose your points, if you go two years without any account activity. You can easily keep your account alive by making any charge on the Hyatt gift card, buying 1,000 points (for $24), crediting a car rental to Hyatt, or buying a $10 gift card with 2,000 points. You can also keep your account alive by transferring points, for free, between members. Our Keep Your Points from Expiring article provides more details about strategies for keeping track of upcoming expiration dates and keeping your points alive.
Member Benefits
Hyatt uses unusual names for their elite status levels. Their low-level status is called “Discoverist”, their mid-level status is called “Explorist”, and their high-level status is called “Globalist”. We can never keep them straight, although they are at least arranged alphabetically. Award nights count towards elite status.
Member (entry level)
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| Discoverist (10 nights or $6,000 spend) 10% bonus points on stays, and adds the following benefits:
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| Explorist (30 nights or $10,000 spend) 20% bonus points on stays, and adds the following benefits:
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| Globalist (60/55 nights or $20,000 spend) 30% bonus points on stays, and adds the following benefits:
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Shortcuts to Hyatt Elite Status
- The Hyatt credit card automatically gives you Hyatt Discoverist status. If you spend $50,000 a year on the card, you will earn Explorist status. Even if you spend that much money per year, if you put it on your Hyatt card, you’ll be getting about $500 less in reward value, compared to a card that earns better rewards. For most people, we don’t think it is worth it, just to get club access four times per year, and better room upgrades. However, it is worth considering.
- Hyatt doesn’t usually match status with other hotel programs. But they have in the past, you might want to check StatusMatcher. Boost Your Hotel Status.
The Hyatt Credit Card
The Hyatt Credit Card has a normal signup bonus of 40,000 points ($2,000 initial spending requirement). You can earn an additional 5,000 points if you add an authorized user in the first three months. Every year you keep the card, you get a free night certificate you can use at Category 1-4 hotels. It earns 3 points per dollar on purchases spent at Hyatt. The cad also gives you automatic Discoverist status, but the Discoverist benefits aren’t reason enough to bother getting this card. $75 annual fee.
Many people will want to hold onto the card to get a free night certificate every year. While it is not quite as valuable as the IHG free night certificate, most people will be able to take advantage of it for a room that costs far more than the $75 annual fee.
The Hyatt Credit Card earns higher rewards for spending at Hyatt than a general-purpose reward card, or all but the best cards that earn bonus rewards on travel spending. 3 Hyatt points are worth about 5.25 cents per dollar. You are obviously better off using a Sapphire card to earn 3x Ultimate Reward points, which can be converted into 3 Hyatt points (as well as used in other ways). Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending.
It usually isn’t worthwhile to use for other purchases. The Hyatt card earn 2x points on restaurants, airline tickets and car rentals, which is lower than best travel and restaurant reward rates. However, using the Hyatt card makes sense if you don’t have a card like the Sapphire Reserve or Citi Prestige that earns higher reward rates. Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending, Best Credit Cards for Restaurant Spending.
M-Life (MGM) Rewards Partnership
Hyatt is partners with M-Life rewards, the loyalty program for the MGM Resorts group.
- Your elite status will be matched. Discoverist is matched with Pearl, and Explorist is matched with Gold. Hyatt Globalists still only get Gold status, and M-Life Platinums still only get Explorist status.
- You can earn Hyatt points, and elite night credits, on your M-Life hotel stays and spending. You also earn M-life elite credits for spending at Hyatt.
- You can redeem Hyatt points for stays at M-Life properties.
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